Who is Developing the Technology behind New RPA-based Outsourcing Solutions?

SSON is conducting a series of interviews with the RPA software developers who may be changing the service delivery landscape for good. Recently, Barbara Hodge spoke with Mihir Shukla, CEO and Co-founder of Automation AnywhereAs the services delivery industry grapples with the promise of process automation, buying into enhanced BPO offerings is only one of the options, albeit perhaps the least risky. But what about those shared services organizations that would like to go it alone? The ones who have one part of a process they would simply like to automate, retaining control and responsibility internally?According to industry experts, there are roughly 2-dozen companies currently developing and providing process automation software. Most of these are still relatively small, and funded by venture capital. By and large, the majority are in the early stages of product development.Blue Prism, based in the UK, was one of the first to capitalize on the RPA brand and make a name for itself in the service delivery field but others who until now have flown under the radar are starting to emerge into the public arena.Genpactâs announcement, last year, of its partnership with Automation Anywhere resulting in an expanded offering called Rapid Automation, may have marked the start of a race among BPOs to offer corporate clients improved services based on enhanced automation capability. Until then, the only other well-publicized solution for the Shared Services market had come from Sutherland Groupâs partnership with Blue Prism. We can, however, expect more of these announcements in the near future as BPOs get ready to take their RPA solutions public (Genpact alone says it has a number of such solutions queued up).Automation Anywhere is headquartered in California, driven by the Silicon Valley mentality that has been delivering new solutions to age-old problems for decades. It has been selling automated process software for over a decade, as its CEO and Co-founder Mihir Shukla explained on the phone to SSON recently."What I see happening is that RPA is suddenly going mainstream. After more than a decade providing robotic process automation, it has suddenly become a very real, strategic solution for enterprise processes"Shukla counts 70 of the Fortune 100 as existing customers and explains that his companyâs robotic process automation platform is already driving car assembly lines, utility companies, Healthcare processes, and many government bodies across the US; has done for years, in fact.What's changing now, he says, is that the BPO and Shared Services markets are entering the fray, and process automation is suddenly enjoying something of a boom in corporate strategy."Several management consulting firms have reported that in an average eight-hour day, around 4 hours are effectively wasted through training, communications, and other non-value-added work." says Shukla. "That was a startling statistic and probably served as a wake-up call for the BPO industry and its clients. One of the benefits of RPA is that this kind of waste falls by the wayside."Over the past decade, Automation Anywhere has been enjoying steady growth fuelled by a large segment of brand name customers. Even during the economic meltdown of 2009, the company posted impressive growth rates."Until now, however, our activities tended to run somewhat behind the curtain," says Shukla.Those days may be over. Today, Shukla says, he's working with Shared Services teams at several well-known multi-national corporations, in addition to working with 10 of the top 15 BPO firms."What I see happening is that RPA is suddenly going mainstream. After more than a decade providing robotic process automation, it has suddenly become a very real, strategic solution for enterprise processes," he explains.The service delivery market still only makes up 10% of Automation Anywhereâs overall business, but Shukla expects to see a lot of growth from this sector.[eventpdf]"I think in the short term, the BPO sector will be our main market, as providers aim to ramp up their solutions, but in the long term I would expect Shared Services to offer significant opportunities, as companies gain confidence based on a proven concept, and opt to either push their BPO to automate their processes or automate themselves."The RPA platform that Automation Anywhere is basing its future on is its enterprise solution: a single platform that enables providers to automate, manage, define, and lead â ultimately creating their own unique IP through the continuous automation cycle.The immediate ROI is a key driver for RPA, says Shukla, but while cost saving is the start, itâs really just the tip of the iceberg. Step change will come from companies that recognize process automation as just one step towards a more evolved delivery model, which offers quality and reliability with improved real time reporting. Most companies, in fact, will start with a few small projects, where cost is not necessarily instrumental, but establishing best practices is."Companies are starting with 15 or so processes, that share some form of commonality," Shukla explains. "By applying an assembly line tactic, effectively running processes like a factory, a new process model emerges."Itâs an approach that is second nature to Shared Services practitioners.Not every company is ready for RPA, however. Companies with a CTO or equivalent in the executive forum stand the best chance of leveraging today's technologies, says Shukla: "Without a technology leader representative at that level, companies just won't get it. They won't have the mindset it takes to shift gears."While the RPA market is still young, we may expect to see some big successes offset by a few failures, or consolidations, as financers seek to recoup their investment. Those companies most likely to succeed will be those that form strategic partnerships with brand name providers early on, or those with the experience and client base to go the distance.Shukla is confident of Automation Anywhereâs position in the market. "Implementations of more than 500 robots are routine for us," he says. "I can't think of any other RPA provider with this capacity already under their belt."

Who is Developing the Technology behind New RPA-based Outsourcing Solutions?

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